May 17, 2019 (Nanowerk News) Colonies of social insects are capable of self-organizing and accomplishing complex tasks through individual interactions. For example, to march across large gaps, ants grip the bodies of each other, forming a living bridge that allows the colonies to reach the other side. Inspired by this...
Nanocatalysts speed up the decomposition of chemical residues in contaminated water
May 17, 2019 (Nanowerk News) Microcontaminants place a considerable burden on our water courses, but removing them from wastewater requires considerable technical resources. Now, ETH researchers have developed an approach that allows the efficient removal of these problematic substances (Advanced Materials, "Magnetoelectrically driven catalytic degradation of organics"). In our everyday...
Microfluidic device may help researchers better understand metastatic cancer
May 17, 2019 (Nanowerk News) Instead of searching for a needle in a haystack, what if you were able to sweep the entire haystack to one side, leaving only the needle behind? That's the strategy researchers in the University of Georgia College of Engineering followed in developing a new microfluidic...
Ultra-clean fabrication platform produces nearly ideal 2D transistors
May 17, 2019 (Nanowerk News) Semiconductors, which are the basic building blocks of transistors, microprocessors, lasers, and LEDs, have driven advances in computing, memory, communications, and lighting technologies since the mid-20th century. Recently discovered two-dimensional materials, which feature many superlative properties, have the potential to advance these technologies, but creating...
Physicists found new way to optimize nanoparticles and light interaction
May 17, 2019 (Nanowerk News) Scientists describe, for the first time, new features of dielectric nanoparticles optical response using improved method for electromagnetic field analysis that can take into account more complex configurations of bias currents inside the objects. These effects help to better understand the processes in nanoparticles and...
Nanoscale sculpturing leads to unusual packing of nanocubes
May 17, 2019 (Nanowerk News) From the ancient pyramids to modern buildings, various three-dimensional (3-D) structures have been formed by packing shaped objects together. At the macroscale, the shape of objects is fixed and thus dictates how they can be arranged. For example, bricks attached by mortar retain their elongated...